June 2023
On June 2, 2023, 9 new CASA advocates were sworn-in by the Honorable Judge Sheila A. Venerable and the Honorable Judge David B. Katz. CASA Essex is so proud of them and grateful for their commitment to advocate on behalf of the children in foster care in Essex County.
April 2023
It is that time of year when we celebrate Volunteer Appreciation Week
and shout-out our amazing volunteer advocates for the work they do 365 days of the year!
DECEMBER 2022
ADvocate Supervisor Cheryl Kelesoglu and a few of our Peer Coordinators Lisa Culhane, Beth Daugherty, David Sotnick, Kristen Carlberg, Steve Moehlman and Sally Unsworth got together for an evening to celebrate the holiday season. We are so grateful for our Peer Coordinators and all that they do!
November 2022
October 2022
October 2022
Be sure to stop by the Van Vleck House & Garden’s second annual Scarecrow Exhibit!
August 2022
August 2022
May 2022
April 2022
To raise awareness to Child Abuse Prevention month, CASA of Essex partnered with over twenty-five local businesses to help raise awareness by planting blue pinwheel gardens throughout the county, as a reminder that every child deserves a safe childhood.
April 2022
As we approach National Volunteer Week (April 17th-24th, 2022), we would like to take a moment to recognize and thank all of our current CASA advocates. Each volunteer is dedicated to ensuring that youth in foster care have access to needed services and someone to depend on throughout a challenging time in their lives. We are so grateful for their support.
We’re in the fall spirit with our friend CASAndra Essex at the Van Vleck House & Garden’s second annual Scarecrow Exhibit in the gardens! The whole team is ready to step up and advocate for Essex County’s youth in foster care.
Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm, and the National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem Association for Children (National CASA/GAL Association) today announced Tawanna Brown, of Verona, New Jersey, an incoming freshman at Seton Hall University, as the 2021 recipient of the Akerman Academic Excellence Scholarship.
April 18-25, 2021
When Daniel Ives died suddenly and tragically last September, friends and loved ones were devastated — but determined to remember Danny in the most fitting way possible. Last year, the newly formed Daniel Ives Foundation awarded $5,000 to CASA for Children of Essex County, an organization that works to provide advocacy for Essex County’s 1,200 foster children. Now, that donation has been put to use, providing 27 new bikes, locks and helmets that were distributed to local Essex County foster youth.
When Daniel Ives died suddenly and tragically this past September, friends and loved ones were devastated — but determined to remember Danny in the most fitting way possible.
“After Danny’s passing we decided to start a gofundme account and we just had such an outpouring of love and support from the community,” says Alyson York, the director of the newly formed Daniel Ives Foundation, which has already raised more than $48,000. The Foundation made its first major donation today, awarding $5,000 to CASA for Children of Essex County, an organization that works to provide advocacy for Essex County’s 1,200 foster children.
Racism has been a pandemic in the U.S. for over 400 years. It causes not only deaths that can be videotaped and rightfully spur us to action, but also deaths that are harder to see, from health disparities, structural inequalities, and entrenched poverty.
The racist events of the past weeks have left us feeling enraged, exhausted, sad, and disappointed. The murder of George Floyd, and the widely shared video, was the latest in a string of deeply disturbing incidents that have made the ugly truth of systemic racism impossible to ignore. When these videos surface, we are forced to think not just about the horrible loss of life and injustice against one person, but also the countless others that were not recorded.
To those who are bravely standing up and calling for change, know this: we hear you, we see you, and we stand with you.
And CASA of Essex County will continue to be the voice for those who are most at risk in all of this, the children of Essex County in foster care.
“Michelle Bobrow has spent 30 years serving as an advocate for children in foster care. As a volunteer with CASA — Court Appointed Special Advocate — she helps ensure that children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse, neglect, or abandonment have a safety net of support. Appointed by a family court judge to conduct an independent investigation into a child’s life, CASA advocates
meet with parents, teachers, social workers, health-care workers, and relatives — and with the child — to gather information to help the judge assigned to the case evaluate the situation and make decisions about the youngster’s future.
In the eld, Bobrow is known for her tenacity. If her calls are not returned, she finds another way. “I set my teeth and move forward,” said the Maplewood resident. “Kids are in situations through no fault of their own and they deserve better, and if we can make their lives better, it’s incumbent on us to do what we can.””